US Vice President JD Vance signs a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, advancing a US-brokered peace process and a major trade corridor after a controversial stop in Armenia.
BAKU: US Vice President JD Vance signed a new strategic partnership agreement with Azerbaijan on Tuesday. The move aims to consolidate a US-brokered peace process following his visit to rival Armenia.
Vance met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku after holding talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan a day earlier. The trip is part of US efforts to advance the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), a flagship transport corridor.
The vice president’s regional tour was marred by controversy after a post from his official account about laying a wreath at an Armenian genocide memorial was deleted. His office stated the post was published in error by staff not part of the delegation.
In Baku, Vance and Aliyev formalised a strategic partnership between their nations. Vance stated the agreement “will formalise that partnership and make it very clear that the United States–Azerbaijan relationship is one that will stick”.
He also announced the US would “ship some new boats to Azerbaijan to help you with territorial waters protection”. Aliyev said relations, including in defence cooperation “through equipment sales”, were “entering a new phase”.
The visit follows President Donald Trump’s mediation of a peace agreement between the historical rivals in August 2025. That deal saw both countries commit to renouncing territorial claims and refraining from using force.
A key topic was the TRIPP project, a proposed road-and-rail corridor linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia. Aliyev said the TRIPP “will make another contribution to peace, development and cooperation in the region”.
Washington views the corridor as a critical confidence-building measure after decades of conflict over the Karabakh region. Azerbaijan seized the territory from Armenian separatists in a 2023 offensive.
Before meeting Aliyev, Vance indicated the issue of imprisoned Armenian separatist leaders would “certainly going to come up”. A Baku court recently handed life sentences to several former Karabakh leaders in a war crimes trial.
The US State Department said the vice president’s tour would “advance President Donald Trump’s peace efforts”. Azerbaijan considers opening regional communications a main precondition for a final peace treaty with Armenia.
